


Family is a Circle

by Barbllm



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: And so is Sig, Domestic, Edwin is my OTP, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/M, Izumi Curtis is awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26609170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barbllm/pseuds/Barbllm
Summary: Sig and Izumi Curtis pay a visit to her former pupil, Edward Elric, who has a request to make of them.  This story takes place 3 years after the Promised Day.Disclaimer: All FMA characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa.  And she rocks.
Relationships: Edward Elric/Winry Rockbell, Izumi Curtis/Sig Curtis
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	Family is a Circle

Even on its busiest days, the train station at Resembool isn’t what you’d call crowded. After all, Resembool is a small town with more farm animals and fields than people. But to one man disembarking, it was home. 

Alphonse Elric, alchemist and now practitioner of alkahestry, stepped onto the platform and looked around. He stretched his 5’10” frame after having been seated for the duration of the journey. He was dressed in tan slacks and a white button down shirt. The couple who’d been traveling with him weren’t behind him, as he thought they were. Did they mistakenly get off at another stop? Or were they still aboard? Al was about to re-board the train when a large hand touched his shoulder.

“Here we are,” Sig Curtis remarked. Sig was a large, dark-haired man who dwarfed his equally dark- haired wife, Izumi, who stood beside him. Her curvy body belied her athletic abilities; she was an alchemist and martial artist. Al noticed that Izumi wasn’t clutching her stomach right now, as she’d done intermittently during their trip. Al knew that her medical problems stemmed not from genetics or illness but from an alchemical ritual gone horribly wrong. He had been studying alkahestry in Xing with Mei for months now, but debated whether or not to offer his services to his former teacher.

“Great!” Al replied. “Home isn’t too far away, and I know Ed will be happy to see you both!”

They began walking towards the station’s exit, with Al hoping that his teacher wouldn’t have any issues making the two mile walk to Ed and Winry’s home. Previously, it had been the Rockbell residence and home of Rockbell Automail Repairs. Winry still did minor repairs and special requests but had taken some time off recently. Al had phoned to let them know that he was coming and that he was bringing guests. 

The day was sunny and warm. Al and Izumi passed some of the time talking about Resembool and Al pointed out the farms and homes of people he vaguely remembered from his childhood. A few who were out in their fields waved to Al, and he waved back. One of the minor things he’d been missing while living in Xing was the friendliness of the people in Resembool. Xing was a much larger country than Amestris and, because its people were divided into clans, Alphonse was treated like an outsider most of the time since he did not belong to any particular clan. They even had a name for foreigners like him: gaijin. 

Travel between Amestris and Xing was difficult due to the presence of a vast desert separating the countries. Three years after the Promised Day, however, Roy Mustang, the Fuhrer of Amestris, had ordered the construction of a railroad line from Central to one of Xing’s easternmost cities, one that stretched through the entirety of Amestris and into Ishval. The day the final spike had been driven into the ground was a national holiday in Ishval and Amestris. Al had been present at the ceremony where Fuhrer (it sounded so weird calling him that) Mustang and Emperor Ling Yao had given speeches about unity and commonality, and fireworks lit up the skies until the early morning hours.

Izumi held Sig’s hand as they walked. That he was still with her despite everything they’d gone through was proof enough for her that true love not only exists, it flourishes given the right conditions. Their butcher shop in Dublith was doing well enough that they could close for a long weekend and return to see their customers the following week. Izumi had taken it upon herself to ensure that Dublith’s 18-and-under crowd had toys to play with, and that all the toys were in good repair. A couple of older teenagers had even asked her to spar with them one afternoon, and she’d obliged. It felt good to see the surprise on their faces in the split-seconds as they hovered in mid-air before she slammed them to the ground. 

“How much further is it?” Sig asked. 

“Just down this path,” Al replied. Izumi’s stomach knotted but she smiled at Sig. Al’s letter inviting them for a weekend trip to Resembool to spend time with both her former students came as a surprise, but she and Sig talked it over and they agreed that a mini-vacation would be nice. The last time she’d seen both Edward and Al together had been at Ed and Winry’s wedding. Since that time, she’d mostly confined herself to one of three places: her bedroom (where her books lived), her butcher shop (where the love of her life worked), or her front yard (where she was the town’s de facto teacher). She needed a change, and she wanted to see how married life--a life she absolutely adored--was treating Ed, who had a chronic case of wanderlust.

They walked on in silence until the path narrowed somewhat and the two-story house came into view. It had been yellow for most of the Elrics’ lives, but Ed had apparently painted it white. A few potted plants and a small tree crowded on the porch. Al smiled at the “Rockbell Automail” sign that Winry had re-painted a year ago. The sign was “held” by two automail arms attached to the sides of a large barrel. 

Al didn’t even have to knock. As he walked up the steps to the porch, the front door opened and his older brother, Ed, stepped out, grinning. “Hey, Al!”

Al and Ed embraced. Izumi and Sig followed Al up the steps and Izumi smiled at her now-grown apprentices. “Teacher?” Ed looked puzzled for a split second, before breaking into a wide grin. He embraced Izumi and shook Sig’s hand.   
“It’s good to see you, Ed,” Izumi said quietly. 

“Please, come inside. I’ll get you something to eat.” Al, Izumi, and Sig followed Ed into the house. Al noticed that there were a few more pictures on the bulletin board in the dining room. He’d sent a couple of them himself, one of him practicing tai chi along with Mei, and another of Ling as Emperor wearing his official robes, hair pulled back. It was a mosaic to the past, present, and future.

Ed stepped out of the kitchen holding a tray with four glasses of tea on it. Izumi smiled and took a sip. “Sit down, relax.” Ed gestured to the couch in the living room. 

“Thanks, Ed. The trip took longer than I thought it would.” 

Sig and Izumi took many short trips throughout their marriage, but age inevitably slowed them down. They traveled less frequently now, maybe once or twice per year. They’d traveled the length and breadth of Amestris, and found that they preferred the quiet beachside towns of Aerugo to the night life of East City. 

“Where’s Winry?” Al asked his brother, who nodded his head in the direction of upstairs. 

“She’ll be down in a few minutes. I’ll let her know you’re here. How are you, Sig?” Ed asked as he started for the stairs. 

“Pretty good, all things considered.”

“How’s Mason?”

“Same as always.”

Ed grinned and bounced up the stairs. A door opened and closed. Al smiled at Izumi and Sig. They sat in silence for several minutes until footsteps could be heard on the stairs. Izumi looked up to see Ed holding a small bundle and Winry following him, a gentle smile on her face. She waved to Izumi and Sig, who acknowledged her by raising his glass.

“Teacher? I want you to meet James.” Ed held the bundle out to Izumi, who took it in her arms.

“He’s so cute, Ed.” Izumi said. James, for his part, slept rather soundly (as he normally did after a feeding), so Izumi couldn’t see his golden eyes which he’d inherited from his father. Izumi found it amusing that James was wrapped in a red blanket with a flamel symbol. She looked at Ed with a wry grin. “Found a new use for your old coat?”

“That’s actually a gift from Al.” 

“Really?”  
“Yeah.” Al rubbed the back of his head. “I asked Winry if she still had this thing” (the word thing made Ed flinch), “and she said yes. So she sent it to me in Xing and I transmuted it into a baby blanket. It seemed fitting.” 

James’s little hand now reached out and found Izumi’s finger. She sighed. The beginning of a new life, whether animal or human or plant, was a blessed event. She looked up at her pupil, Ed, now a young man in his twenties, with his arm wrapped around his wife. Marriage suited him, even as it had suited her. 

“Um, I have a favor to ask of you.” Ed began.

“What is it?” Sig asked. 

“Winry and I aren’t particularly religious. But we want you and Sig to be James’s godparents.”

Izumi held still for several seconds, looking from James to her husband, Sig. He had a questioning look on his face, but a smile as well.

“Of course. We’d be honored.”

“Thank you, Teacher.” Ed bowed slightly. He had discussed this with Winry repeatedly, and they’d come to the mutual decision that church or baptism wouldn’t be necessary. Godparents, in the case of Sig and Izumi, were people that they had chosen to be in their child’s life, not just people who’d be a part of their child’s life because they were related. 

“Yes, thank you.” Winry spoke up. “Right now, James’s only blood relative is Al. So you and Sig would be like his honorary aunt and uncle.” 

“I still get to be the cool uncle, though,” Al piped up, eliciting a laugh from everyone.

“Hey, Al, we should get a picture of all of us!” Winry said. She went back behind the dining room to her workshop where a small camera lay on a table. After much arranging, and rearranging of furniture and people, several photos were taken that soon would be added to the mosaic on the bulletin board: one of Izumi and Sig; another of them with Ed, Winry, and James; and another of Ed, Al, Winry, and James. 

“Izumi, if you can keep James for a few more minutes, I’ll get dinner started.” Winry said.

“Of course. He’s quite content.”

“Can I help?” Sig asked, and Winry nodded. He followed her into the kitchen, leaving Izumi with her pupils once more. 

Izumi looked from Ed’s face to Al’s, and back down at the baby. Tears stung her eyes. 

“I’m glad you and Sig are here. This is something that Winry and I have talked about for some time now.” Ed rubbed his hands together, something that developed into a habit once he’d lost his alchemy. Even he wasn’t sure if it was nerves or nostalgia. “When we--I mean Al and I were little, you taught us. And you taught us more than just alchemy.”

“I’m just a housewife, not--a mother.” She said, with some hesitation. 

“You certainly know how to love like one, Teacher.”

And when dinner was ready, Winry and Sig went back into the living room to find Ed and Al on either side of Izumi, alternately laughing and crying, and looking for all the world like a family.

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this back in July, and just finished it today. I don't know that I stuck the landing (or ending, to be more appropriate), but the world needs more fics with Sig and Izumi Curtis. 
> 
> The story's title comes from a poem I found while researching godparents and naming ceremonies:
> 
> "Family"
> 
> A family is a place to cry, laugh and vent frustrations,  
> To ask for help, tease and yell,  
> To be touched and hugged and smiled at.
> 
> A family is people who care when you are sad,  
> Who love you no matter what and share your triumphs.
> 
> Who don’t expect you to be perfect,  
> Just growing with honesty, in your own direction.
> 
> Family is a circle Where we learn to like ourselves  
> Where we learn to make good decisions, and think before we do.
> 
> Where we learn integrity and table manners, And respect for other people.  
> Where we are special, and share ideas.   
> Where we listen and are listened to.
> 
> Where we learn the rules of life,  
> To prepare ourselves for the world.
> 
> The world is a place where anything can happen,
> 
> If we grow up in a loving family, we are ready for the world.


End file.
